Arches Family Vacation: Part 1

We went on a family vacation to Moab and Arches National Park July 7 - 10. Other than Melanie being sick the whole time, we all had a blast. The scenery is so beautiful there. We only did about half of what we had planned so we are excited to go back again. We took tons of pictures so here are some of the best ones.



We began our trip by stopping at Goblin Valley. From everything we saw in pictures as we planned for this trip, this was the thing that Melanie was most excited for. It turned out to be as cool as we thought it would be. It did get a little hot. We didn't quite make it out the door as early as we had hoped, so we were a little later in the afternoon getting there, during the hottest part of the day. Yikes. But it was way worth it.









We stayed at the Moab Valley Inn where we swam every day. The girls don't mind where we stay on our vacations as long as there is a swimming pool. I have not done very well at continuing the Moffett tradition of camping on vacation. I can't say that I really miss it. I like the convenience of staying in a hotel as long as I can get out into the wilderness to take in the view.





We went on this amazing boat ride up the Colorado River. When we asked Maisy what her favorite part of the trip was she said, "this part," and she waved her hands above the air. What she was talking about was the part where the boat guide showed us all how to get rid of the mosquitoes on the boat. He told everyone to raise their hands above their head and wave them. For some reason, Maisy thought that was pretty funny. Melanie also thought the boat ride was the best part of the trip. I just wish that the boat would go faster. We went upstream as it was getting dark then as we cam down, they had a light show on the sides of the cliffs. The light show was quite amateur and it went on too long but it was beautiful.

Two of the mornings I took Amina and Felicia into the park to watch sunrise. No one else was willing to get up that early. The first time we went we decided to hang out at double arch. We were behind some rocks so we didn't actually see the sun come up. It was still pretty though. The girls really liked climbing on double arch. The other time we got up a little earlier and hiked all the way back to landscape arch for sunrise. It was absolutely amazing. The sunrise was beautiful, the colors were fantastic and the whole experience was breathtaking. It reminded me a lot of the time a couple of years ago when Me, Amina, Grandpa Moffett and Jared got up at 2 or 3 in the morning so that we could go see the sunrise at the Grand Canyon.